Indian Security Committee Discusses Chinese Border Incursions

May. 1, 2013 - 06:25PM
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NEW DELHI — Indian Army chief Gen. Bikram Singh briefed the Cabinet Committee on Security May 1 on the level of Chinese intrusion into Indian territory. The committee is the highest governmental body to take decisions on security issues.

Military tension between India and China has heightened since April 15 when India accused China of intruding nearly 10 miles inside Indian territory in the upper terrain of the Himalayas at an altitude of 17,000 feet.

Both countries are engaged in hectic diplomatic engagements to ease the tension but no headway has been reported. The standoff on the border intrusion comes ahead of the planned visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India May 20.

The dispute between India and China involves the longest contested boundary in the world. China claims 92,000 square kilometers of Indian territory .

The border between India and China is currently defined by a 4,056-kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC), which is neither marked on the ground nor on mutually acceptable maps. Efforts have been made to establish a recognized LAC since the mid-1980s, but little headway has been made.

India has been improving infrastructure along the border with China and is building new roads and airports. Special troops are being trained and new weaponry purchased for deployment along the higher reaches of the Chinese border.

The two countries fought a brief battle over a boundary dispute in 1962.